With the federal government shutdown now in effect, administrators, students, teachers and families may be concerned about the impact on the Department of Education and how student loan borrowers could be affected if the shutdown continues in the days and weeks to come.
The Department of Education has already been gutted this year, since President Trump signed an executive order in March to shut down the department, and the federal agency has laid off nearly half of its workforce.
The layoffs went into effect over the summer and approximately 80% of department staff are already furloughed.
The department told ABC News that on an immediate basis, federal funding and disbursement of certain programs such as student loans and Pell Grants for nearly 10 million students is expected to continue, as the budget is earmarked from past mandatory appropriations bills.
Essential employees will also continue other "key operations," such as the processing of students' Free Applications for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
However, should the shutdown drag on, sources familiar told ABC News furloughed support staff will be unable to help students and schools if a financial aid issue arises.
Rachel Gittleman, a former management and program analyst with the Education Department's Ombudsman Office, told ABC News in an interview, "If, like, something breaks on the FAFSA form, the staff that is responsible for fixing it is furloughed."
"If students have an issue getting their Pell Grant or getting their federal student aid, if the shutdown resolves in six days, then there will still be harm," Gittleman added. "But it won't be as great as if a shutdown lasts a lot longer."
Federal grants that were already awarded to schools will likely go through, but any new grants in the works will be paused indefinitely as new appropriations funding is decided by Congress.
"For funds that have been delayed and for funds where there are further oversight or conditions that have been added, the funding is technically supposed to continue to get out the door, but the staff that is responsible for resolving oversight requirements or flagging these schools as able to accept the funds, that staff has been furloughed so that you can't actually get the funding out the door," Gittleman said.
Other programs, like Title I funding for schools in high-poverty areas and programs for students with disabilities, are considered essential and will continue amid the shutdown.
The Department of Education is tasked with enforcing civil rights laws, but during a government shutdown, complaints will likely not be processed, and investigations into civil rights violations will be halted.
The students and schools that will be immediately impacted by the halt in federal funding are schools that receive Impact Aid and are located on tax-exempt federal lands, such as military bases and Native American reservations, because they don't operate with funds from local taxes and rely on federal money.
The National Education Association, a teachers union representing over 3 million educators, has called for an end to the shutdown, warning that certain communities will lose access to "vital" education programs.
"A shutdown means the public schools that serve military families and military communities across the United States will be cut off from funding they need for day-to-day operations," NEA President Becky Pringle said in part in a statement. "Low-income new mothers and their babies will lose food and crucial support. And thousands of vulnerable children will lose access to vital preschool programs that set them on the path to success."
